Silas Marner Flashcards
Silas - 3 points for essay
- Initially sociable and part of Lantern Yard community until he realises the cruelty found within his fellow men when he’s betrayed
- becomes isolated in Ravaloe, treated as an outsider. Leading to his monomania with money which leaves him desolate when its stolen
- Discovers Eppie who he transfers his love for gold onto. Grows to love her as his own shown through his parental actions
Quotes to show Silas at the start - Sociable and part of Lantern Yard religious sect. Until he is betrayed by William and realises the cruelty of men + context
“he was a man of exemplary life and ardent faith” - shows his devotion to God and his ideal lifestyle
“he had long lived such as close friendship” - shows his trust in his best friend William Dane
“God will clear me” - has faith in God to clear his name
VOLTA
“There is no just God.. But a God of lies” - he has lost in faith after his eviction from Lantern Yard
Eliot was betrayed by her family and also rejected from the church
Quotes to show Silas in the middle - treated as an isolated outsider, becomes obsessed with money and left desolated when it’s stolen + context
“the shepherd’s dog barked fiercely at him” - Outsider
Regarded to as “alien”
Eliot was also treated as an outsider when she eloped with her husband which was very frowned upon”
“his life has reduced to the mere functions of hoarding and weaving” - Shows how little he does except weave to earn money
“he seemed to weave like a spider, out of pure impulse” - its his second nature, repetitive
LOSES GOLD!!
“Silas put his trembling hands to his head and let out a wild ringing scream, the cry of desolation” - demonstrating that he has lost everything, doesn’t know what to do with himself
“For joy is the best wine, and Silas’ guineas were a golden wine of that sort”
“he sat in loneliness by the dull fire” -he has been left with nothing and no company
Quotes to show Silas with Eppie - who he grows to love as his own child + context
“it was painful for him to hurt Eppie lest she should love him less” he finds it difficult to punish her as he loves her so much
“some of his porridge, he used to feed the child” - giving up his own food for her
WHEN GODFREY COMES TO CLAIM EPPIE
“she watched this contest between her old, long loved father, and this new unfamiliar one” - shows she loves Silas to be her own father over Godfrey (her actual father)
Silas spoke “not without a touch of parental fierceness”
Eliot’s husbands son also grew to love her as his own<– referred to her as “dear mother, affectionately yours”
Eppie - 3 points for essay
- Throughout the novel, after her arrival, presented as innocent and almost angelic. As a baby she is cute and childish
- She fills the gap in Silas’s heart and brings back the happiness he had lost. Almost a replacement for his gold
- Her and Silas form a strong father, daughter bond as she reunites him with his community
Quotes to show Eppie as a baby cute and childish, and more innocent and angelic as she grows + context
“gurgled” “laughing and frisking” - presents imagery of naivety and youth, filling the reader with adoration of the child
“fresh blossom of youth”
She toddled “right up to the warm hearth”
“sunshine was inviting her”- even nature agrees with her finding Silas ,
romanticism <– she is an innocent free child whom nature adores
Quotes to show that Eppie brings back the happiness Silas lost, almost as a replacement for his gold
Her “little golden head” - resembling the gold coins
“his sole was utterly desolate until she was sent to him” - ‘sent’ suggesting she was a gift
Silas felt she was a “message sent from a far off life”
Silas mistakes her for his “restored treasure”
Love for his gunnies has converted into love for Eppie “he could have said [..] that the gold had turned into the child”
Quotes to show that Eppie and Silas form a strong father daughter bond as she reunites him with the community
“it was as if he had been a father before” - he is talented at bringing her up well
“i can’t think of no happiness without him, and he’d have nothing when I was gone “ - illustrates their interdependence
WHEN SILAS COMES CLOSE TO LOOSING EPPIE
“a touch of parental fierceness”
“I can’t part with it, I can’t let her go”
“God gave her to me”
“you might as well take the heart of out my body
<– all reflecting the true depth of their love
Godfrey - 3 points for essay
- Struggled with a difficult homelife whilst also being a victim of blackmail from his pernicious brother
- his higher class develops a sense of arrogance and social superiority which he tries to take advantage off. Showing his misjudgement of society based of his wealth and class
- Eliot evokes a sense of sympathy for Godfrey through his and Nancy’s inability to have a child as well as his dilemma with Molly Farren
Quotes to show Godfrey at the start - with a difficult homelife and a bad relationship with Dunstan who is blackmailing him
Squire Cass “sons had turned out rather ill”- with lack of maternal figure and somewhat abrasive father
“the red house was without the presence of the wife and mother which is the foundation for wholesome love”
“there was no pleasant morning greeting between them” shows the coldness between the brothers, lack of a simple greeting emphasises their bad relationship
“it’s you have got to pay” - having to deal with blackmail from Dunstan who is shifting the blame from himself, pressuring Godfrey
“the house where the hearth has no smile” - contrasts to the usual warmth of a hearth
Quotes to show Godfrey’s sense of arrogance and social superiority
Godfrey expects a wealthier family would be “best for the child” - as they are the only people who can leave her “well off”
Godfrey feels he can give money to Silas to ignore his guilt and as a substitute for parental love “let me give something towards finding it clothes” the ‘it’ suggests it is a sort of chore
“he would see that it was provided for. That was a fathers duty” - he thinks it is not his problem to care an love the child, just pay for its needs
“it had never occurred (to Godfrey) that Silas would rather part with his life than with Eppie” Godfrey is unaware of the bond they have formed in the years without him
Quotes to show Eliot evoking a sense of sympathy for Godfrey through his and Nancy’s inability to have a child as well as his dilemma with Molly Farren + context
“its natural that he should be disappointed at not having any children” realising that is a difficult pain to go through
“Nancy’s deepest wounds had come all from the perception that the absence of children from their hearth”
“Mr Godfrey didn’t look half so fresh-coloured as he used to “ -visibly stressed about his secret marriage situation
“look of gloomy vexation on Godfreys face” -emphasises his concern and worry
+ Also in the early 19th century it was difficult and frowned upon to get a divorce
Nancy - 3 points for essay
- Presented as a beautiful character, reflecting her inner moral attitude
- Homely and loving, aiming to improve the cold dull red house
- Model of female Victorian propriety , the importance of marrying well
Quotes to show Nancys beauty + context
“Nancy Lammeter’s beauty”
“Bewitching in that costume”
“Looking distractingly prim and pretty”
“The years had not been so cruel to her”
“amiable primness”
“prim and innocent as a daisy”
“delicate purity”
context
· Being “prim and proper” is mentioned, regarding Nancy, many a time in the novel because her looks are more important than her intellect, due to the nature of society.
Quotes to show Nancy as homely and loving, adding a touch of warmness to the Cass household
“Would make home lovely to him”
· “Neatness, purity and liberal affection” (of her household)
· 16 YEARS LATER - “A great change has come over the dark, wainscoted parlour”
· “No yesterday’s dust is ever allowed to settle”
· “All is purity and order in this once dreary room”
